I recall a bug with Ghostly Presence being introduced in the Seasons or Supernatural and fixed some time later. I didn't have any trouble with the job on my last run with it either.
You were right about Mark being cute! Hopefully Pearl makes it through her requirements to make a nooboo with him.
I was thinking of the angry ghosts but you're probably right. In fact, I have a feeling the problem was with the human-shaped ghosts, as opposed to the rather sweet little spirits.
I really like Mark. Not that I fancy a Sim or anything, obviously...
Part of Your WorldPearl reached the top of her career and was given a spirit positioning device. She tried it out and located a few stray ghosts.
This could be fun – but for now she’d better concentrate on angling. She was still a long way short of being able to call herself a commercial fisherwoman. She took Mark along a couple of times. Since he didn’t seem to eat anything apart from kelp and raw fish, it might help if he could catch his own snacks.
She was starting to worry about Mark. Armed with a degree in science and medicine, he’d got a job as a paramedic but seemed to be struggling to cope with the demands of his career.
He was keen to develop his body as well as his mind and said the gym visits helped him to wind down after a busy shift but he was looking more stressed and tired by the day. Maybe fish and seaweed wasn’t enough to fuel such a busy lifestyle. And they rarely seemed to have spare time to spend together.
When he finally had a day completely free of work and on-call, she left her fishing rod at home and took a day off herself. They walked for hours, semi-randomly following paths around the back of the town. Even though they’d both lived in Starlight Shores all their lives, neither had ever seen the famous sign from close up before. In the late afternoon, they arrived at a deserted lookout area on the cliffs, with great views over the town and beaches. Pearl had been looking for a suitable location and this was clearly it. She knelt on the scrubby grass and pulled out the genie ring she’d been carrying around all day.
They celebrated their engagement with a meal at the bistro and then a visit to the theatre. They’d arrived too late for the show but Isaac Gold’s daughter was welcome at any time. The staff took them on a fascinating backstage tour. Pearl didn’t want the day to end yet and went off to find out the opening hours of the various clubs in town. While she was away, Isaac sat down on a bench but realised he was starting to doze off.
He forced himself to stand up. It had been a wonderful day. He couldn’t let this weakness spoil it for Pearl – although maybe he’d better get himself checked out at the hospital tomorrow.
Oooooh!He felt really light-headed…
“Mark! What’s happening? Are you OK? Do you need some water?”
“No. Not any more. I’m human again. Cured.”
“Oh! Do you mind? You never really talked much about being a merman.”
“I’m not sure. Mixed feelings, I think. The swimming was amazing. I loved being able to dive for as long as I wanted, without all of that cumbersome breathing apparatus. There’s some terrific underwater scenery out in the bay. I’ll miss that.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry – although I’m glad you’re not ill. I was beginning to think it was something serious.”
“No – just saltwater withdrawal. I hadn’t realised how long I’d been away from the sea. I may not have done too well in my marine biology course but you’d think I would’ve spotted what was going on. Too busy to stop and think, I suppose...
"Pearl, do you really want to go to a club tonight?"
“Not if you don’t. Why?”
“It’s just occurred to me that I can enjoy normal human food again. I certainly won’t miss the Mermaid Diet. Can we go home? I could murder a burger.”
A few days later, Pearl and Mark headed off for another day in the foothills, this time wearing rather fancier clothing.
They stopped at the middle of the bridge across Buckshot Lake. Pearl’s phone chose that moment to start ringing but they did their best to ignore it.
“You know, you’d probably better get that. It might be important.”
“So is this.”
And she kissed him.
Then she answered her phone. It was the hospital. They needed a deathfish,
stat. It wasn’t what they’d had planned for the day but, on the other hand, she needed the opportunity. Laughing helplessly at the timing, they ran back to the car.
With the fish duly delivered, they got back to the business of the day…
…and soon Pearl was craving apples…
…and then going into labour in the garden.
“Aaargh! No! Breathe! Or something…”
“Mark, you’re supposed to be a doctor. And you’re not the one having the baby, so… ooooooooooooooh!”
And she walked out through the gate before the next contraction hit.
“Stop! Come back! I thought you wanted a home birth.”
“Yeah, I did. Stupid idea. I’m off to Holy Cow. Are you coming?”
And, some hours later, Justin Gold entered the world.
Summary – Generation 13 Parents tried for baby within 4 days of start? Yes
Heir: Pearl
Traits: Loves the outdoors, brave, angler, no sense of humour, sailor*
Lifetime wish: Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium
Unique maxed career: Ghost Hunter
Two unique best friends: Aloli Ra, Xiu Yi Sau Hing**
Three unique skill challenges: Amateur Ichthyologist, Celestial Explorer, Commercial Fisherman
Four unique opportunities: Logic 101, Drink Promotion, Best. Haunted. House. Ever., A Fish of Life and Death
Buildings owned: Flying V’s Coffee House, The Market Basket, C-Ment Shoe Factory, Hoi Polloi Event Centre, Broad Street Business Tower & Grill
Properties owned: MN8, Mick’s Master Karaoke
Vacations used: none
*I had no idea what to use for Pearl’s fifth trait. I the end, I went for sailor because it’s supposed to boost fishing, even though I didn’t really expect it to have an effect on land – and I’m pretty sure it didn’t.
**Both of her qualifying best friends were tourists. They were the only young people she ran into around town when she was close to completing her requirements. I initially read Aloli as Aďoli and was wondering whether her mother had had a pregnancy craving or something…
Whew! That was altogether too close for comfort. I knew Pearl’s challenges were likely to take the longest (in retrospect, combining ghost-hunting and fishing wasn’t such a good idea) but I really wasn’t expecting her opportunities to be a problem. As it was, she finished the challenges halfway through adulthood but had only had one opportunity at that point. Despite trying to hang on to the celebrity ops, I sent her off to do a drink promotion at the Prosper Room (I’d put three of the Late Night bars into the town in the hope of spawning further ops). She also tried the eating-at-the-bistro one but it wouldn’t register as complete. Then I remembered the rabbithole tip for ITF players and I wondered whether it would work for Pearl as well; hence the meal out and theatre tour with Mark. It may have been coincidence but her phone did ring as they were leaving the theatre (and just before Mark’s transformation) with a career op. I was going to send her out to do another celebrity one after the wedding, but then she got her first fishing op. She was finally able to try for baby on the day before her elder birthday. I’d been assuming I was going to have to risk Youth Potion. As soon as Justin was settled in his cot, she grabbed a few life fruit from the garden and then went off to the salon for a makeover.
Unlucky 13?
Pearl won’t have a full set of career rewards because the ‘Key to the City’ ceremony cancelled before she could collect the key. I thought she’d got there in time but she had run instead of taking the car (she’d been at the cemetery, fishing), so maybe she’d just been too slow. I tried going back to the previous save in a parallel file and watched closely. In fact, the problem was that the mayor came out of the town hall, walked to the top of the steps and disappeared, while Pearl complained about pathing issues. Five or six more attempts produced the same result, so I’d guess she won’t get the Paranormal Memento either. A pity: it’s my favourite career reward. They’re not going to be short of rewards for this town but it’s a still little irritating.
Mark is turning out to be a great choice for spouse. As well as being decidedly pleasant to look at, he arrived with level 7 logic, level 5 gardening and one or two points in a variety of other skills (as well as the level 10 diving from being a merman, which probably won’t be very useful in Starlight Shores). His meanness is almost invisible – I’ve caught him sneaking up behind people to scare them once or twice but he doesn’t do it anything like as often as Leo and Victoria.
I let him turn back into a human Sim for two reasons. The main one was that he really was struggling with his job and skills and I wanted the extra moodlets from Grace’s cooking, as well as being able to fill up his hunger bar in one go. He always seemed to start dehydrating at work, too. The other reason is that silly celebrity disgrace for WooHoo with an occult. After several generations of IF heirs, I was pleased when Abi turned out human and wasn’t looking forward to starting again with mermaids.
And, on the subject of Mark, he somehow felt it appropriate to stop and pose for the paparazzi before taking his wife to hospital to have their baby
.
